Long story short, I'm fostering Dozia for a rescue in NY. She may be here for a month. I really love this rescue and I love this dog too. Actually, I fought to save this dog's life. They have put down all the pit bulls that have come in the three months I've been back there doing the updates except Dozia and Draco. Cross your fingers, pray, and send good vibes, please.

I plan to do the two week shut down to begin. Any advice you all may have is very much needed and appreciated.

Sorry if I missed this somewhere........are there posts here that tell some of the story?? (I've been a bit swamped lately, with everything that's been happening and don't get to visit the forum as often as I was before I took this other job.))

Good Luck and BLESS YOU.......

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are Anger and Courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.”----Augustine

Sorry if I missed this somewhere........are there posts here that tell some of the story?? (I've been a bit swamped lately, with everything that's been happening and don't get to visit the forum as often as I was before I took this other job.))

Good Luck and BLESS YOU.......

Nope, I've been keeping this to myself because I wasn't sure it was going to happen. Dozia was taken into the shelter because she got loose and apparently knocked down a 14 year old girl who was walking her dog, and pinned the dog to the ground. AC was called to get her. She did not bite anyone, but the State's Attorney got involved because they were looking at labelling her a dangerous dog. Knowing what Dozia easily could have done, but didn't, convinced me she needed someone in her corner. I had a similar incident happen once with Vinny and it's not an offense that should be punishable by death!

She's here! I'm not sure what to do about the crate. I lured her in, then while I was out of the room, she bloodied her teeth trying to get the door on it opened. She didn't get it, but I took her out. She is now in her own bedroom and not liking that much either. Dozia is just so, so, so excited to be out of the shelter!! I'm hoping some time in the bedroom will give her the chance to calm down. Ugh, she's trying to scratch her way out now.

More Pix!

Happy dog, happy dog!

Nah, I like it better on the outside of the kennel, thanks anyway.

Ooh, this feels so good!!

I have only one room in my house with carpet (besides the sunroom). She's already peed in one spot and rolled around all over the rest! Guess she's feeling right at home!!

She now has two rescues working for her! One at a Time Rescue in WI is on the job now too. Tammi emailed me today that she is waiting on one completed adoption application for Dozia and has sent out another one. That's pretty good - two in less that 8 hours!

Dozia is revealing her wonderful self more to me all the time. She's a smart little cookie! She picked up on our routine very quickly. She knows several commands - sit, shake, down, stay, go, come, and off. She is very friendly too and wants to play with my dogs although I have not let that happen yet. Despite the one pee incident (I think now she was marking where a little white dog who shall remain nameless had peed), she has shown me she is very housebroken. She loves children and the college girls across the street. She is also pretty comical!

Dozia is very watchful when we go outside, so I can definitely see how her protective instinct got her into trouble. Easy enough to manage, though. I can't wait for her to reveal more good stuff!!

Grace - I'm glad you asked. She is still on shut down. We tried to push it and do a bit of intro stuff with them, it has not gone well. She tried right away to dominate Guido and Reno, but neither of them was having it so they had to be separated. She and Leni do not like each other.

Things are changing though. When Dozia was in her kennel when she first got here, she and Leni would challenge each other. Now they look and sniff at each other without a challenge. Reno and Guido can sniff her in the kennel and she sniffs back. Last night Dozia was leashed to me and I let Guido in the room. All went okay until I got Guido's food and called him to eat. Dozia went after him. So I would now say she is a resource guarder. I suppose I should have known by how she treats her piggy, but I don't know a lot about animal behavior. She does not like Jade the cat at all. Now I need to also say that Vinny and Jade did not like each other at first. They grew to love each other.

My unprofessional take on Dozia is that with her former people she was:

1. Hit or beat when they housetrained her.2. An only dog. 3. Not socialized whatsoever with other animals.

Because of these things that I think happened to her, I think she can get used to other dogs and possibly get along with other dogs, but it will take time. I've unoffically fostered adult dogs before, but never had any issues like with Dozia. If any experts reading this post have ideas for how I should handle the intros next time we try, please tell me!!

ON the bright side, she loves, loves, loves people including kids!! She is very eager to please.

Great job, Angie. She is a beautiful girl.I'm thinking it was close to two months before we were comfortable taking the lead off Duke and allowing he and Trouble to truly interact. But we all know, a trainer - I am NOT!

Dozia did a "kennel up" not once, but twice!!! She has had to be "placed" into her kennel every time since she got here, but tonight she decided to do it all by herself at my command!! I could not be more pleased with this break through!!